 And back again, well kind of back Emily for the first time in Jerica. It's Jerica, right? Am I pronouncing it properly? Yereka. Yereka. Yereka. Yereka. Yereka. Yereka. Yeah, whatever, it's fine. It's okay. Parents also have a different one to pronounce. That's it. Ladies. My name is hard to pronounce too for some people. Yes. Mine is the easy one. Phoenix out. It was out January 26 on Napalm Records and with us again Emily Johnson and Yereka Mancini from the Gems, at least one, two-thirds of them, right? Yeah. Great stuff. Great new album from the Thunder Mother to the Ashes to the Phoenix has risen. Is that the good way to put it? Yeah, perfect. And I really like your space outfits. That's a really cool image. I like that image that you have. Thank you. Very cool. But we're going to continue that. We just tried on a new rendition of that outfit just yesterday. Okay. We're having like a next level version of that superhero thing coming up soon. Is that what it is? It's a superhero sort of a... I mean, we kind of have a kiss in mind, but yeah, something like that. I think it works. Something that people don't usually wear everyday life. It works. I guess it worked out that you had a G and an M in the band because the name is really, really cool. Does your bass player start the letter S or is that, you know, we'll just kind of keep it to U3 and then we can figure out the bass player later? I mean, it's definitely the three of us. I guess we put the S because we are many people, the Gems. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. But I mean, we'll see. Maybe the one who will play... I mean, as of right now, we have live bass players like hired guns and we intend to keep it that way. But hopefully a more permanent bass player live in the future. And maybe we'll get a nickname for that person that starts with the S. We'll see. Okay. Or hey, you could just say when we audition bass players, we will only audition bass players whose name starts with the letter S. I don't think you should do that, but maybe some... Or if Thunder Mother loses their bass player, you know, you could always... I don't think that bass player will play with us. She's playing guitar and Gems now. Well, the new one. Okay. But anyways, I won't say that. I won't say that. All right. So I see a lot of themes on this album, a lot of themes. And maybe you guys can speak to it when I hear songs like I'll just bring up the song list. Queens, you know, send me to the Wolves, Silver Tongue, Running, Kiss a Goodbye in Psycho. I mean, what is that described to us? I couldn't get it, but there is definitely not one song. It seems like half the album is there's a theme there. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of things that we had to get off our chest. And the whole album is us basically working through the grief. So there's some angry songs. There's some frustration. There's a, you know, just pure sadness and in that mix that's still empowering and hopeful. So yeah, this is our people. If you listen to the album from beginning to end, you get to hear basically everything. All the emotions that we went through when this happened to us. So, you know, ladies, I listened to the album last night for like third or fourth time. And whenever I'm listening to a new record, I like to write down a few words that it evokes in me. And I wrote, you know, empowering was a word that you put. So I wrote down empowering, confidence, attitude, positive. And then musically, I put groove and bluesy. So those are those are those words that came to mind when I listened to it last night. And, you know, good for you guys because, you know, going through what you guys went through, you could take this very kind of whiny woe is me kind of place, but I felt it was very kind of strong record. So was writing this like therapy for you guys? Was it cathartic for you? Like just the, you know, because you could have kind of retreated, but it sounds like you just kind of like Jimmy said with the song titles and the attitude. So was it a therapy session for you guys to write this record? I mean, for sure. Like, it was almost like we used all these emotions as fuel to put into this new project and to write these songs. I mean, we tried to think about the themes, but on the other hand, it was just like, you know, this is what we feel right now. And this is, I mean, that's the best outcome with lyrics to a song. And you actually write something real. And it was really therapeutic to put down our feelings in words, you know. So, yeah, I mean, it is, it's been helpful for us in many ways. And also, I think, I mean, this debut album is a lot of like a statement. Like, this is us. You can never, we're not going to give up basically. We're going to rise up again, no matter what. So, yeah, really, it was nice. And we had each other, which was also really nice and helpful. Well, it came across in the lyrics and it came across just in the vibe of the album. Like albums have a feeling and I really felt that in the album. Nice. My favorite song is Psycho. That's my favorite song. I just kind of... What do you think about the video? I like Psycho. I thought it was great. I think everything, I think, I think it's, there's this theme, definitely the same. Remember the last time you were on? You know, it was very emotional. Yeah. Didn't I cry? Yes, you did. Yes, you did. Oh, God. But it's okay. But it's okay. It's all part of the process, right? Of recovering. I kind of like what you did. You didn't sit back and wait three years to record an album and keep everything inside. You let it all out. You rolled the momentum and that's so important. And then you let the music do the talking. Do you have any regrets letting it all out? Not only with me, but maybe with some other podcasters. No. I don't regret anything. I feel like we are on a truth journey. That's this album where we're being honest and we're sick of like, you know, hiding what's actually going on because of, you know, other circumstances or other people or you're trying to... Yeah, I'm just sick of it. Like completely over not being truthful. And we're all very truthful, honest people. Yeah. And that's how I like... That's how I like it. And we all... You know, that's how we are as humans. So it's nice to just be freely yourself and unfiltered and it's just really nice. I do maybe... In hindsight, I do regret crying on the pod because it was... I mean, last time we interviewed because I felt like maybe I should have taken maybe a month before I did interviews, but then it was part of the process too. And I'm a fighter and I'm kind of like, you know, in a sense... I just want to say something right what you're saying. Just so you know, after that show, I got text saying, man, I feel like she did because somebody else who was an artist who actually wrote me after and said, I went through the same thing. And you connected with people actually because you cried or... So you might look at it like, wow, you know, maybe I overexposed myself too early, but actually you did a good thing. You made people feel that, hey, I've been in this situation too. How does that make you feel? I mean, that makes me very happy. And I kind of got shivers on my arms and stuff now because it... That's the best feeling, you know, connecting with people on a real level. And that's kind of the response that we've received. That's why I don't regret anything because the truth needs to come out eventually. And if anyone would doubt us, we have all the receipts. I'm kind of like, it's not like we're saying anything weird. You know, you came across as human. You came across as human. And I think, you know, this is a new age in music. Like when we were all younger, we looked at our bands kind of like superheroes, right? And there wasn't this... There weren't podcasts. There wasn't social media. There wasn't this immediate, you know, you read the news three months later in a magazine. So I think people are looking for humanity in kind of the artists that they enjoy and feel like, okay, I enjoy her or his music, but I could also have a beer with them at a club and that would be cool too. I kind of feel like I know them. So I think showing your human side actually is endearing to people. And you know, not that people need to choose a side, but I think at the end of the day, people tend to relate to others that they see as more human and not up on a pedestal. So, you know, in French, we say on Madeple Grambien, something bad for something good. So I think something AB that you perceived as bad actually was quite good in terms of just making people see your humanity. That artist cried, by the way, when you cried. What? That artist cried when you cried. Oh, wow. I mean, I feel like we, as musicians, we should talk more honest about what we go through, because we did have a clinic in November, I think it was. We had a talk in front of a lot of business, like music industry people. And after us telling our story and how we rebuild our company within a year and all that we accomplished, after the thing, she came and told us how she's a booking agent and she had been through a very similar situation with a person that she'd worked with. She's not the artist, but I feel like our story is pretty relatable and that it's good that we talk about it. And a lot of former Thunder Mother members have reached out as well because we're doing it not just for our own sake, but for them. And I think they appreciate the fact that we are speaking out. Yeah, so it's a support group. Okay, that's interesting. Yeah, it's a support group. And we're here and we would love to talk to more people that if we can help each other and have a more loving community of musicians, it would be great. So I said I would ask one Thunder Mother question because I see you haven't been shying away from it in interviews recently. No. You're going to be playing festivals. I assume at some point they're going to be playing some shows. Eventually, your paths are going to cross. So if you're in the compound backstage at Sweden Rock or Hellfest or whatever and you run into each other, you know, hey, have a good show. Have a good show. Did you see yourselves having kind of a relationship, a conversation, or it's just really at the points that, or today anyway, it's at the point where there wouldn't be any pleasantries. It would just be you're in your corner there and there. And that's it. That's just there is no conversation. I think we will definitely avoid each other. And I mean, as Gernike mentioned, like we are honest people and I could never wish her well, unfortunately, because I mean, she has hurt me very much. So I can't. I'm sorry. I can't. I couldn't say that to her. So I would probably just avoid her. And I think maybe all of us would. Yeah. I hate those kind of confrontations. Like I would rather like hide in the bushes or something. Like I would never want to see her. There's a lot of fakeness at festivals. Let's be honest, right? A lot of people are fake to each other. Yeah. But I mean, I think to be completely honest, the new lineup, I don't know two of the girls. So I have no hard feelings towards them whatsoever. So eventually I'm kind of hoping to get to talk to them because we are trying to build a nice community of female musicians, you know, actually supporting each other and being there for each other. And like I've said in a lot of interviews, we're here when, you know, she is going to hit the fan eventually. And we are here waiting for them with open arms and ready to be that support that you will need eventually. But as far as the other two that I actually have been working with, my dream is to be able to just, you know, have like a, you know, when you do like a, when you're trying to protect yourself like spiritually, like I'm going to have to do something like that, like see like golden light around me or something, because I'm going to have to be like, just ignore them. I can't let that energy in my snare. Like I talked to Jerika last time, but you're the one who said, you know what, if she's gone, I'm gone. That takes a lot of guts. I mean, you guys are opening up for the scorpions. You guys are playing arenas. You're, that's friendship and that's not only friendship, but that's commitment. And I mean, tell me about that. I mean, you're going, at what point did you say, I can't do this? I just want to hear your thoughts on that. I mean, I mean, we've had some tough years in that band. Like I think what, I mean, what helped me go through it all was because Gernike was in the band and we had, we always had each other when, you know, when things were tough, like we were always happy on stage. And I loved every show we played because that's the best, you know, but, you know, all those, that other time, you know, around a tour and everything, I was feeling shit most of the time. And, and Gernike, I was really helpful, you know, to have a real friend with you on tour that you could always like text or whatever, you know. And I mean, first of all, like we were a band, we were a democracy. That's the way we worked in Thunder Mother and we split up the hard work and we did everything together. So for somebody in the band to just all of a sudden starting to making own decisions, that wasn't for me at all. First of all, you know, and also like, I could never imagine myself being in that band without Gernike. And also, you know, it was kind of a, the worst thing ever, business-wise, to fire the singer who had the voice that made our sound, you know. There was just like, you know, so many stuff adding up. So yeah, I mean, I had no doubt. I just told her that. Like, you... What you did, what you did is very rare what you did. It is? It's very rare. Most bands would just say, you know what? I'm just going to shut my mouth and ride the great, you know, ride this. I'm telling you what you did. And you could ask Perrin, what you did was so commendable and so, it's a good thing. What you did is... Emily is a person that sticks to her word because we always said to each other, like, no matter what, we have each other's backs. And if you quit, then I quit. You know, like anything happens, like, we didn't want to be in the band without each other because it was the only way we could stay sane. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, yeah, of course it was like, I mean, I guess in that moment I realized, you know, because we've been through so much, you know, like tough periods being on tour and, you know, just wanting to stay in your room and cry or whatever, but, you know, to go through all that for your career. And then, I mean, when all this happened, I just felt like, no, that's enough for me. I mean, it's not worth it. And it's not worth the career if I don't have any respect. If my opinion isn't respected, then bye-bye. Find yourself a new drummer, basically. That's very admirable. That's very admirable. Emily put her foot down first, too. Yeah. It would have been easy just to stay on the Scorpions tour and do the other dates, but, you know, sometimes the right decision isn't the easy decision, but it's the right decision for you. So, and again, we have a great album that came from all these experiences. So, enough about that other band. I'm happy we're working through all of this. Psychologically. I'm happy we're working through this. I feel like we're coming, you know, to some sort of good place. Okay? Go ahead, parents. Sorry. So let's talk about positive stuff. So, Yurnika, you mentioned before kind of just, you know, support group women in rock and, you know, the things I noticed, like, at the start of the year, I always start a playlist, Best of the New Year, so Best of 2024. And I noticed just yesterday, you know, we're early in the year, so there's only maybe 12, 15 things on my playlist, but I have the gems on my Best of Playlist. I have a Canadian band that's fronted by a woman, Unleash the Archers on my playlist. Julia Log, who's Richie Cotson's wife and a great bass player, she put out some material and she's on my playlist. Plush, an American band. An American band is on my playlist. So all of a sudden, I look at my top 12 or 15 of the year so far, and five of them are, like, female fronted bands. So what's happening for, is this, like, just all of a sudden a better climate for women in hard rock and metal? Need a strouse. Like, just all kinds of stuff seems to be going on. So what are your thoughts on what you guys are bringing to the mix and just the opportunities for women in the hard rock heavy metal world right now? What are some of the things that could blossom? Such a hard question. I mean, we kind of never, we just kept working and doing our thing and I think that maybe, I mean, obviously there's more women out there that's just not going to let anything stop them and just go ahead and try to, or work hard to accomplish their dreams. And because that's kind of how we did it. We had to rebuild or regroup quickly because this is what we are going to do. And we love playing music and finally we are happy playing music again. So it's like very exciting everything. And I mean, maybe the climate is better because I honestly, I don't have, it's very rare that at least online, because we haven't toured that much yet. I feel like people are very supportive and it's like, it's not so much gender as much as it is good music. Like, are you actually producing recordings and all these things? So that has not, not so much to do with the actual gender of the musicians. And maybe that's what people actually are enjoying now. Just, it's a good song. It's a good song. If it's made by a girl or a man or whatever, it doesn't matter. But yeah, it's very exciting to see that there's so many women do like killing it out there. I think that's very exciting. Cool. Maybe we're going to get like a little affair of metal maybe. I hope so. That would be a dream. I want to play that. I want us to play there. All right, let's talk about the favorite songs on the album. All right, Emily. What songs that really stick out for you and why? I mean, they always change like from week to week. But I mean, one that I liked from start very much is Forza of Nature, because I mean, musically, it's crazy. And it's just like, we had so much fun creating it. And, you know, to just be able to put in some weird fills, wherever you want it. And Mona is playing like a two harmony jazz guitar solo. And, you know, it's still kind of catchy, I think. So that one is definitely a favorite both to listen to and to play. You know, it's really, it's a fun song. Dereka, yeah. Oh, me. I love all the songs. No, you can't love them all. It's like children. You could only love a few. What? The one? It's like children. You could only love one or two. Exactly. Okay. Well, I think ease your pain is beautiful. And again, it really, the story behind ease your pain is basically Mona brought the idea to us of like how she, she wished that she could like carry some of that pain from us because me and Emily were really going through it. Obviously I was crying here. So yeah. And it is a ballad. So everybody knows it is a ballad. It is a ballad. Yeah. It's a power ballad. And it's about, it's, it's a love song to us, to a friend basically wanting to, when you're feeling is like a little bit stronger and you want to carry some of that pain that they're feeling when they're going through a hard time. And I think that's so beautiful. Like both Emily and Mona are amazing humans and friends. And I think it's such a just beautiful thing that she wanted to do that for us. And that then, that we then wrote a song about it. See, I didn't know that was a story. I had you. Sorry. What about you? Well, my top two were easier pain. And I think it should be a single. And if Mona was here, I would tell her the guitar work on that song was just stellar, just stellar. You know, it's, it's so funny. It's hard to kind of say what style you guys are, which is great. You're a rock band, you know, but you know, I grew up in the 80s listening to ACDC, but also to like, you know, the hair metal from LA and like, you know, a lot of those LA guns and those kinds of bands had some great moments and great soul. If you liked 80s power ballads, like easier pain is a song for you. So I think easier pain should be a single. And then on the opposite end, I love summing to the wolves. I just love the dun, dun, dun, like the blues and the soul that's in there. So those are, those are my two standouts. But I mean, it's a, like I said, I think, look, if people haven't heard the record yet, like just give, I know it's so hard these days. Like people have short songs, like these bands give the record a good listen. I think it's, it's only about a 45 minute record, which is the right lane. So many bands throw out like an hour and 10 minute record and it's like, it's too much to digest. This is just the right amount to digest and really, really good. So easier pain, send me to the wolves are my two favorites this week. Like maybe we'll be different next week. Oh, maybe. Mine was a psycho. I just liked the punky attitude for that. You know, it's kind of like a football cheerleading song and like a phoenix. I just like that. Like a feeling subburner. You know, it's a real fast in your face kind of song. What else do you guys want to say about the album to tell your, your, the people out there? I mean, we can, we had it like the, this order of the songs, we've really put some effort in putting them in a specific order so that we would take like the listener on a, on a journey with all the interludes that's kind of in between. And so, I mean, that's something I'm really proud of, that we actually, you know, put everything together in a way. I mean, yeah, we do have maybe some, you know, it's kind of like all over the place with influences, you know, from the 70s and the 80s rock, but somehow it's a red line through the whole album because, because of the theme that goes through like, you're going through hard times and you still like rise up again and you never give up and, you know, all that stuff. So I think that's, that, that was a new thing for us and we're really proud of that. Yeah. I think it's empowering and I hope that like we, I mean, we know what inspired the songs for on our part, but we really made an effort to, to make them open enough for anyone to relate to them because I think every single person has a person that they don't want to meet like when they go out like, you know, like the psycho song, it's not specifically about a psycho, it's just, I think most people have like an X or whatever friend that they just don't want to, you know, have to see when they go out. Do you have a copy of the album? Do you have a copy of it in front of you? I have it up there. Cool. Grab it. Grab it. Grab it if you can. It's all about showing the product. Let's take a look. Isn't that nice? It's cool to see, you know, your album come out like that. Look at that. It's beautiful. Yeah. And it's almost like very kiss-like. We just need, if there were like men instead of women hurt having the fire in your hand. Did it hurt? I mean, yeah. When you had the fire, like how long did it burn your hand? Kind of cool though. So I stood through the pain, you know, because Yeah, but it is like hardly inspired by a kiss. We can admit that. And I mean, because we, we wanted to have something powerful, like, you know, something with the three of us standing proud and, you know, to really fit with the Phoenix thing that we kind of look like we have, you know, risen and, you know, with the plastic on here, but you can kind of see the, there's like a. Rip it open, like the shadow. No, no, don't, don't, don't, don't. No way to see what I've had like sent it up over the black and go. Oh. It's a rightful place. Guys, what about touring really fast? So like, I mean, we're here in Canada. I know there's a lot of I know there's a lot of North American fans who are wondering and even maybe European fans also. So I know there's not a lot of dates booked yet, but I think I saw a couple of festivals popping up. So are there touring plans? Are we gonna be able to see you in different places in the world later in 2024 and maybe into 2025? I mean, that's the goal. After the pandemic, it's been really tough to book shows. There's like a different climate. You need to prove yourself in a completely different way. So in that aspect, we are truly starting on square one. But we have a European tour planned in October. Oi, I should say fall. We're keeping it open. Oops. Might be a joke. In the fall. But anyways, it's like four weeks by weeks in the fall. In the fall. But yeah, in the fall. But anyway, and then 2025, we are kind of hoping to get over there to North America and do some dates over there. But yeah, it's a lot of planning and we need to set it up. But that's the goal at least. Yeah, and touring is tougher than ever these days, like you said. I mean, for American, North American bands to go to Europe, for European bands to come to North America, the cost of fuel and buses and just anything that you need is just so expensive these days. So hopefully there's bands that are figuring out the formula. And I guess bands and booking agents and management and clubs need to work together to make it happen. So hopefully you find the model that works. Yeah, are you working on new music? Not yet. Well, because as you're waiting to tour, I figure you'd probably start writing some new stuff. But I mean, we did talk about it. Emily, go. Yeah, but wait. I knew it. I knew it. I mean, the dream would be actually to release something sooner than later. But I mean, we want to kind of enjoy that Phoenix is out for a couple of more weeks or something. But then, I mean, because we had not that much time to write Phoenix because we really wanted to just get going and we had no time to waste and wanted to make use of the momentum and everything. We kind of speed wrote those songs. And for next album, I think we want to have some more time to do it in a more calm way. So I think we will start this spring to just write songs, to just with no expectations just to get starting again. Yep. I knew it. I knew it. Ladies, the Phoenix is out. It's been out since January 26. Pick it up in A-Bomb Records. I really like it. I think the musicianship's great. The vocals are great as well. Everything sounds good. The production is solid. So I think you guys are heading to the right direction. Any closing remarks? I mean, follow us on Spotify. That helps us a lot on our YouTube. So yes. And what they say is that even if you click on Spotify, every time you click on Spotify, it goes higher up for everyone else to see those songs when they're searching. Yeah, really? I didn't know that. That's how it works. Yeah. So just look, great job, guys. I think they should be on tour of ACDC. ACDC just announced a European tour. There's no opening act yet. I think that. There you go. There you go. What are you guys waiting for? We have an announcement. I'm just kidding. In fall. That would be a great mix right away. I mean, that would be such a dream come true. And it would be like the greatest karma situation ever. But let's see. Opening for ACDC is still a dream for all of us. It would be a fit. Just you guys are playing like just four on the floor rock and roll. So the Scorpions was a good fit. But I think ACDC is probably the ultimate fit. So look, I'm going to I'm going to wish you well. We're just throwing it out there. We're just throwing it out there. And hopefully somebody will pick it up, OK? Ask the universe and you never know what's going to happen. You never know. But I do hope we see you in North America because a lot of us who hadn't really heard Thunder Mother before when you opened for the Scorpions were won over. And I remember I saw the show, one of the first shows you did. I think the second show was here in Montreal. And then started following you guys on social media like you encourage people to do. So kind of now I'm invested, right? So it was disappointing to hear what happened. But I'm glad we've come. I should have worn my Thunder Mother shirt because it's a collector's edition now. There's like three members that are not there anymore. So I think I showed it to you last time. I was wearing my Thunder Mother shirt. And it's a collector edition, right? Yeah, I mean, sure. We are super proud of everything we accomplished. And you can never take away the hard work that we put in building that brand and name. So we just see it as something amazing that we've done, like in our CV or whatever. And now we're just looking for the future and excited to what's the next step and how much more can we accomplish now that we actually feel good and things are good. All right, on that note, thank you very much. Hope wish you all the success. Congratulations on the album. And hopefully you'll have a great tour as well. Thank you. Thank you. It's going to be great there. Thank you.